ODST: A Touch of the Past
by Blaster master 1942
Summary: The Battle of Earth has just taken a drastic turn, and the lone ODST known as "The Rookie" finds himself stranded, his squad missing, and with events happening that he can't explain. Based on a theory about the Rookie's abilities.
1. Chapter 1

(AN: I do not own the Halo franchise, or the ODSTs. The Halo universe is fully the property of Bungie, they're just nice enough to let us play pretend in their playground.)

Halo: ODST

A Touch of the Past

Chapter 1

_WHAM!_

A rifle butt to the side of the head was the last thing anyone wanted while they were trying to sleep. His head stung, but not from the impact, from something else. For something that was buzzing in his skull. He was on medication, but it didn't help. The headaches were persistent, irritating, and painful. He'd never had such bad migraines before. But ever since Cygnus…

As his vision focused, Romeo's face swam into perspective. "Wake up buttercup!" Romeo said, further rousing the newest member of their squad from his nap. Dutch shoved Romeo aside, "Relax Rookie, he don't mean nothin'." He held out a suppressed M7 sub-machine gun "Besides, now's one of those times... pays to be the strong, silent type." The Rookie took the weapon and fastened it to the inside of the pod. Then hit the button to lower the hatch on his pod. There was a hiss of hydraulics and a crash as it shut tight. 'Should have taken my aspirin before my nap' he thought 'At least then I'd be better prepared for this'. As the pod spun into position, the captain's face appeared on his right screen, and the Gunny Sergeant on his left. "Latest intel reports Covenant troops are massing beneath the carrier" Dare stated

"They're pulling back?" Buck questioned "Why?"

"We're not going to find out up here" Dare responded.

"Pucker up, marines!" Buck shouted at his soldiers as his visor polarized "I sure as hell ain't hosing out your pods!" As the pods began to descend from the bottom of the _Say My Name_, the countdown timer to FNGs own launch began to beep. When it reached it's final beep, his pod lurched as it was sent plummeting towards the atmosphere. As the fell through space, they passed the remains of several shattered UNSC warships.

"I take it back" Romeo piped in over the COM "Navy got its butt kicked!"

"Hey Romeo!" The GySgt replied "Remember when I told you to shut your mouth?"

"Yeah?"

"Consider that a standing order"

They passed through the cloud layer, and the city below was becoming clearer and clearer, as did the enormous Covenant carrier. "Captain!" Buck yelled "15 klicks off the deck!" The sounds of COM chatter, the rattling of his HEV pod, and the rushing of atmosphere outside made a cacophony of noise that exacerbated the Rookie's already pounding headache.

"Standby to adjust trajectory" Dare responded "On my mark…"

"What did she just say?" While Dutch asked questions, the Rookie quickly grasped his control yokes to prepare to adjust. Perhaps the captain was steering them to some other objective?

"Mark!" The captain cried as she angled her pod, the rest of the squad followed suit. "We're way off course!" Mickey exclaimed over the radio.

"We're headed exactly where I need to go" Dare replied coolly.

"But we're gonna miss the carrier!" Mickey interjected. Below, the details on the Covenant carrier in question were becoming sharper, but suddenly the ship glowed and began moving.

"Radiation!" Dutch alerted.

The prow of the carrier was glowing brighter, until a blob of blue energy emanated from it. "The Covenant just set off a nuke!?" Mickey questioned.

"No" Dare whisper turned into a panicked dry "The carrier's going to jump! It's a Slipspace rupture! You need to-!"

But what they needed to do, the Rookie never found out; all he _could _do was hang on as the ship they'd been assigned to capture disappeared into nothingness, leaving only an ever expanding electromagnetic pulse behind. The blast blew another HEV into the Rookie's, and for an instant, he saw Mickey's face, his helmet covering his likely terrified face. As the pod spun out of control, the readouts went crazy, and his images of the Gunney and Captain turned to static. "EMP!" Dutch yelled over the radio as is started to die "Losing power!" Buck's voice tried to fight through the static, but it was useless, he couldn't make anything out. All he could do is hang on as the pod fell like a stone, and he began to lose consciousness.

(AN: I know this seems like a blow-by-blow of the game, and to a degree it is. But I've put my own special twist on it, which will be revealed in the next chapter. So please stay with me!

-Blastermaster1942 )


	2. Chapter 2

ODST: A Touch of the Past

Chapter 2

The hum of a passing Phantom's engines was what awoke him. As his vision fluttered into focus, the hum became a loud, low wail. He snapped into consciousness when he realized how dark it was. When they'd made their drop it had been day, late in the afternoon perhaps, but the sun had been out. The second thing he noticed was that he seemed to be looking at rooftops, not streets. The Rookie looked down and saw the Mombasa streets below; his pod had smashed into a building at an angle, embedding itself into the side of it. He checked his mission clock: 6 hours after the original drop. His heart skipped a beat. A lot could happen in 6 hours. He had dropped with dozens of ODSTs; did any of them make it? Did his squad?

He needed to get out of here. He needed to find his squad, to regroup. He hit the pins in his pod, engaging the emergency open mechanism. The door blasted open, landing on the street below with an echoing crash. A few seconds passed, where the only sound was the gentle pattering of rain and the sound of distant car alarms. 'Sounds like the coast is clear' The Rookie thought. He looked down at the ground below, now realizing just how high up he was. He breathed deeply, psyching himself up for it. "1…" He whispered aloud "2…" He jumped "3!"

He tried to roll into the fall, but for the most part it did little to ease his landing on the unforgiving concrete. After the roll he was sprawled out on the wet concrete, rain spattering his visor and his legs throbbing painfully. He laid there for a minute, and then stood up, trying to shake off his pain. After a minute of breathing, the pain subsided but didn't cease. The Rookie got his bearings, and unslung his suppressed M7 to its ready position. He glanced back up at his pod, briefly wondering if he should have left so hastily. There was a whole pack of ammo and other supplies in the pod, now stranded 4 stories up. He even considered trying to get back up there, but shook his head. 'This is Earth, a populated city' He thought 'Odds are I can find what I need in the city."

He had no idea where he was going, so he simply chose a random direction. He advanced down the street, weapon cautiously poised. He remembered the sense of isolation he had felt on New Jerusalem: nothing in the city but him, his unit, and an invading horde of Covenant soldiers. He'd spent the last day before ___exfiltration_ alone, the rest of his unit wiped out in a last defense. He pushed the thoughts of Cygnus away, focusing on his current situation. Suddenly he saw a slight fork in the road. One road went off to the left, the one road lead up a ramp to a large door. The Rookie decided to take the high road, but before he started up, he blinking in sudden realization. His head didn't hurt anymore. He gave a little smile: as strange as it sounds, falling 3000 meters out of control through the atmosphere in a metal coffin and landing in the side of a building turned out to do wonders for his headaches.

He ran up along the ramp to see a plaza ahead and crossing the plaza was a small patrol of Covenant, heading his direction. He ducked behind a railing, and used his helmet zoom to get a closer look. He activated his VISR mode, short for _Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance_. The darkness around the street lit up and the Covenant patrol was illuminated in red. The patrol was a standard squad; 4 of the diminutive Grunts followed by a ferocious, 7 foot tall… Brute? He'd heard of the aliens, but had never seen one in person. The Brute was covered in blue armor, with a Spike rifle strapped to his thigh. The Rookie knew that from his elevated position he had a distinct advantage. And if he waited for a little longer, they'd be within easy grenade throwing range. So he waited, clicking off the safety of his M7S.

As the patrol passed under the Rookie's position, the ODST lobbed a fragmentation grenade down at them. The patrol never had time to react, as the grenade exploded and razor sharp shrapnel tore the Grunt apart. Unfortunately, the shrapnel just bounced off the Brute's energy shield. The Rookie had no idea they had energy shields, but ultimately it wasn't much of an issue. He popped up and sprayed the disoriented Brute with submachine gun fire, knocking out its shield and tearing into its flesh. With a yell, the Brute succumbed to a full clip of fire. Satisfied with his work, the ODST went down to the scene to check on them and perhaps scavenge some grenades. As he bent down to pick up a Spike grenade off the Brute's belt, a trio of red plasma bolts skimmed over him. The Rookie's head snapped up and he saw another squad of Covenant heading his direction, firing. They must have been drawn to the sound of his grenade explosion.

He hit the pavement, balancing his SMG on the Brute corpse as he fired. Some rounds pinged off the Brute shield, but some tore into a pair of Grunts, shredding their thin armor and spattering blue blood. The Brute ducked behind a wrecked truck and blind fired as the remaining Grunts increased their fire and charged forward at the Rookie's position. The Rookie's SMG ran out of ammo, so he pulled out his Silenced M6 pistol and fired a pair of rounds, both of which hit their targets on the pair of Grunt's skulls. As the Grunts hit the ground, the Brute appeared again, this time with an active Spike grenade in hand. He threw the grenade towards the ODST, who scrambled to his feet and ran as the grenade landed a foot to the left of where he had been. The explosion hurled white hot shards of metal like a miniature proximity mine. The Rookie felt a pair of jabs of pain in his back as he ran. The force of the spikes hitting him knocked him on his face with a thud. He froze, playing dead. The Brute approached, thinking his grenade had killed the human soldier. But when the Brute was within 5 feet, the Rookie sat up and emptied the M6S's entire clip into the alien's chest. The Brute raised his plasma rifle, but the Brute's power armor exploded as the shield was overstressed, stripping him of his energy shielding. The very last bullet in the Rookie's clip pierced the Brute's mouth and punctured a hole in his throat. The Brute gave a last blood choked roar, and collapsed.

The Rookie stood up, wanting to admire his handiwork, but was too busy with the agony in his back. Just as he was standing up he spun around as a kiosk lit up near him and a cheerful voice intoned; "_In need of medical assistance? Choose Optican!_" The Rookie stared for a moment curiously at the kiosk, then it clanged as a pair of medical kits fell out of the slot "_Fast, accurate diagnosis, or your money back!_" He apprehensively took the medkits, thinking it was probably a glitch, when suddenly a car alarm blared. He spun around and saw a neon sign on the side of a building was red with an exclamation mark and "caution!" on it. As well as an arrow pointed down the left fork of a road. Acting purely on instinct, the Rookie picked up his SMG and ran.

He ducked into a nearby alley and hid, careful of the spikes still in his back. He waited a moment, and then heard footsteps over the gentle rain. He dared to peek around the corner for a brief second, and at that moment, a fork of lightning flared, illuminating a trio of avian Jackals, their sharp beaks and big aggressive eyes darting. They were armed with Carbines and looking over the fresh corpses. One of them squawked into an arm mounted radio and guttural words issued from it. The Jackal squawked a little more, and then turned off his radio. He gave a shrill cry at the others, and they ceased their inspections. They talked amongst themselves for a minute, probably talking about what could have happened here. Then they stalked off, a new alertness in their stride.

He waited 5 minutes for them to clear the street then crept out. It was a good thing he'd been alerted they were coming; he was in no state to avoid sniper fire. He looked at the sign again, and it had changed to a cool blue, with a white arrow pointing as text above it said "Keep Right." Figuring he had nothing better, the Rookie gripped the medkit and SMG in his hands tightly as he proceeded down the right road. He repeated the mantra he had made for himself after Cygnus:

"I am ODST Service Number 11282-31220-JD, Jett Dennis, and I will survive."

( Sorry, I lied. The twist is revealed in the _chapter after this one_. Please believe me.

-Blastermaster1942 )


	3. The Premature End

Hey guys, blastermaster here.

And I've been doing you all a big disservice. You've been all waiting with baited breath for the next installments of my latest chapters, and I've been too lazy to tell you that they may never come.

I can't really explain it; much like the 70's obsession with disco, it seems my writing bug has faded and I haven't wanted to admit it. I really wanted to tell these stories, but I just lack the desire to put them into my computer anymore. Some of you will understand, and move on to find other fanfics of the same ilk. Some of you will be outraged, and you have every reason to be. I'm sorry that I couldn't have been as good you to you until now as you've been good to me.

All the reviews have been great and I hope I was able to capture just a smidgen of your imaginations.

Keep on reading,

Blastermaster1942


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